ICMPD and Austrian Ministry of Interior Host Event for Joint Project "MIGRATION.DIGITAL.PEDAGOGY"

PeopleOther ♦ Published: July 31, 2022; 18:24 ♦ (Vindobona)

Representatives of International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and the University College of Teacher Education Lower Austria (PH NÖ) met to discuss the results of the joint project 'MIGRATION.DIGITAL.PEDAGOGY'.

According to ICMPD, a participatory approach to migration issues should be encouraged to promote an objective discourse on migration in Austria. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / / Bwag [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

In recognition of the findings of the Migration Council for Austria's report, the "MIGRATION.DIGITAL.PEDAGOGY" (MiDiP) project was created as part of MAKING A CHANGE.TOGETHER, an Austrian migration communication initiative. The process aims to provide guidance and a basis for decision-making in the field of migration policy by involving broad sections of society.

Panelists at the event discussed both the initiative and the research process with Lukas Gehrke (Deputy Director General, ICMPD), Peter Webinger (Head, Section V, Migration and International Affairs, Federal Ministry of the Interior), and Univ. Prof. Erwin Rauscher (Rector of PH NÖ). The panel was attended as well by Kyoko Shinozaki (Professor for Social Change and Mobility at the Paris Lodron University Salzburg) and Christian Stadler (Professor for Philosophy of Law at the Faculty of Law Vienna). Further, external experts were invited to join the discussion on social peace, diversity and public safety to provide an additional perspective.

What is MiDiP?

To raise awareness of society's responsibility for an effective migration policy, MiDiP (Migration.Digital.Pedagogy) aims to communicate migration knowledge in an age-appropriate manner.

The MiDiP project addresses educators and students in Austria, as well as the general public.

The MiDiP project is building up on the success of the two previous projects MIKO (Migration Communication 2017-2018) and MIKS (Migration.Communication.Schools 2019-2020). The MiDiP project is currently the third phase of the greather project and aims to further develop, optimize and focus on digitalizing existing project outputs. According to ICMPD, this digitalized output will provide students with age-appropriate digital materials and educators with tools to communicate the various facets of migration in a neutral, evidence-based and constructive manner.

In the framework of the project, materials are being developed for each school level. Among these materials are picture books, audiobooks, and board games. Digitizing these or making them available digitally is the next step in the project.

Children and young people must be provided with an objective, evidence-based discussion about migration, said Deputy Director General Gehrke. According to Gehrke, there was a fundamental prerequisite for shaping migration policy in this initiative. This initiative contributed greatly to the public discussion of migration and its complex interrelationships by using age-appropriate materials.

ICMPD and BMI conduct joint research

The ICMPD and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Interior have been working together on a socio-scientific research process. This research gathers and studies the main topics, assumptions and recommendations of the report of the Migration Council for Austria among the Austrian population.

Relevant stakeholders from the state and society are currently involved in this process to improve the understanding of perceptions on migration across the population.

The research results should provide policymakers with a better understanding of how migration is perceived by the population and by practitioners from the area of system-relevant state and social functions. According to ICMPD, a participatory approach to these issues should be encouraged to promote an objective discourse on migration in Austria.

International Centre for Migration Policy Development

Austrian Ministry of the Interior